The Weather: Was perfect. Although it rained throughout the state throughout the day, it was beautiful for the evening. Robert apparently has a deal with someone, am hoping it is the “good” guy. :engel016:
The Sacred Cone: It is a favorite thing of Robert’s, and the entire deal is behind it. Starter, announcer, fans. It simply is what it is, like the admission price. Tow in, deal with it. Like the borg, you “will be assimilated”. It is no surprise. Yoho is on the track on the “one to go to green” lap and is pointing at it with his own (probably black) flag.
A caveat–not only do you have to wait on the cone, you also have to wait on the starter, and sometimes that green came long after they passed the cone.
The Upside: Most places, although the field is side by side, the leader fires first–and leaves. Not at Showtime. Get the cone right, get the flag right, and make it to turn one first, and you are the leader. Period. Good stuff for the fans.
Robert Yoho: Amazingly, he is at once abrasive and endearing. I and pretty much everyone in the stands were laughing at his antics. Good, bad, or Robert. And it should be known that he is self-depreciating as well. When congratulating the 15 year old late model winner he said: “It’s funny, I raced here for years and never won in a late model, and you have won at 15!”. The crowd laughed loud enough for him to hear it. He turned and faced the crowd and said “It’s not that funny!!”. More and even louder laughter from the peanut (and beer) gallery.
The Races:
Late Models: For Showtime, the late model feature was a little strung out. It happens. The story there was that the winner (Michael Atwell) and third place (Tyler Scofield) finishers were, as mentioned, 15 years old. They look like men on the track, children out of the car, and sound like professionals on the mic. Good job.
Notably in one of the heats the 22 (David King) got under the 25 (Paul White) on the backstretch. It was for the lead late in the race. The 25 crossed the 22’s nose and King drove OVER him and high into the air. Result, 45 degrees of negative camber for the RF of the 22, seemingly no suspension or radiator damage to the 25, but the loss of most sheet metal from the windshield forward. Surprisingly, the 22 returned for the feature, the 25 did not.
Also notably… no Jessie Dutilly.
Sprint Cars: The race basically was between Shane Butler and Sport Allen. Allen’s tires kind of worked a little better toward the end, but the lead swapped back and forth several times and in general the racing was breathtaking.
Notably: Matt Mercer’s Fomoco powered #10 has no forward top-of-the-cage-to-the-nose downtubes, and between that and the old-style-with-a-twist bodywork, was very interesting. I believe the car faded a little in the feature, but came home seventh.
Also notably: No Boneman. Was looking forward to seeing you race, am hoping all is well with you and the car…
The rest of the classes: Were exciting as well, with plenty of “thrills, chills, and spills”.
The Story: A while back someone mentioned I should see a non-winged sprint show and man, were they right. I didn’t like them, I loved them. The cars are closer, and in general the handling is far more 70s style. Some cars were loose, some pushed, some both, but it was all about the mechanical grip. IMO, the competition and racing was far better without the wings.
Interestingly, the front tires are wider than I have ever seen them, particularly the left front. At the same time, there appeared to be a lot of “too much front brake” lockup of the right front going in–resulting in “straight line” handling until the brake was lifted, after which the driver corrected for the slide. It appears that the stock cars are now hinging the car on the right rear, while the sprint cars are moving to using all four tires more equally for more total grip, interestingly enough.
Note that was my unedumacated take, maybe the sprint car set can share more if they like.
All in all, another great 60s style night of racing at Showtime. It is like going home again!